


Grump

by sabotenworld



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2018-05-26 19:19:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6252268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabotenworld/pseuds/sabotenworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Students know Lee Jihoon as the crabby history teacher, but Mingyu knows his husband is more than that. </p><p>aka horribly cliched secretly married student-teacher Jigyu au no one asked for</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is such a cliche animu plot idek why I wrote this but I WANTED TO. I need more Jigyu in my life please. And I have no title ideas give me a better title for this please.

“I hate that Mr. Lee. I want to step on his foot! That little devil!” Seungkwan complained. They were eating lunch after Seungkwan had been reprimanded in history class for making too much noise (or standing on a desk and singing at the top of his lungs). “Not the time for singing, my ass! All the time is the perfect time for singing!”

“He was just trying to teach you how to shut up, that’s his job as a teacher,” Mingyu laughs. He’s gotten used to his classmates dissing Jihoon; the guy was notorious for being such a strict and unapproachable teacher.

“Mr. Lee is really cute though,” Soonyoung says through a mouthful of rice.

Well, this was new. Mingyu stares at his friend, awaiting an explanation.

“He’s good at explaining things and his voice is really soothing,” Soonyoung continues, and Mingyu can’t help but smile, his heart swelling with pride. Seungkwan gives Soonyoung the stink eye and tells him he has ‘zero taste’. “And have you seen his butt? That’s a class A butt to me!”

“Don’t talk about him like that.” Mingyu’s friends turn to him. It wasn’t a very Kim Mingyu thing to talk in such a cold tone.

“Oh? Why not? You have a crush on him?” Soonyoung says in that challenging tone of his.

“It’s…” Mingyu wracks his brain. “It’s disrespectful! You can’t talk about teachers like that!” Mingyu gives himself a mental pat on the back. That would show Kwon Soonyoung.

“But it _is_ a nice butt! I noticed too!” Seokmin counters. He and Soonyoung do their secret victory handshake that Mingyu has kind of memorized right now from the two of them always having to do it in front of him for every little victory.

“I have the best quality butt!” Seungkwan wails. “Stop appreciating his butt! He’s your friend’s enemy! I’m your friend!”

“Yeah!” Mingyu agrees loudly. _Stop checking out my husband’s ass!_

-

Mingyu’s preparing dinner, when he hears the front door open, light footsteps sounding on the wooden floors. 

“Hullo, Minggu,” Jihoon greets him fondly as he passes by the kitchen. So unlike the stoic teacher everyone either hated or was afraid of at school.

“Welcome home,” Mingyu greets back. “We’re having your favorite jjajangmyeon today.”

Jihoon gives him the cutest eyesmile before rushing upstairs to wash up.

This had become their daily routine: eating breakfast together, Jihoon driving Mingyu to the train station while he drives by himself all the way to the school where he taught and where Mingyu studied at, Mingyu going to his part-time job at a nearby convenience store after school, Mingyu going home to prepare dinner, Jihoon finally coming home and the two of them eating together.

“Seungkwan hates you,” Mingyu announces when they’re both seated at the small dining table.

“Who?” Jihoon asks absently. He’s focused on the food, looking happy as he chewed. “This is pretty good!”

Mingyu beams. Of course it was good, he made it himself. His cooking skills were something to take pride in. “Seungkwan, as in Boo Seungkwan. He was singing in history today.”

Jihoon makes a face. “The loud one! God, doesn’t he know how to shut up?”

Mingyu laughs. “He doesn’t.”

“I hate your friends,” Jihoon exclaims, jabbing at the air in Mingyu’s direction with his chopsticks.

“My friends hate you too!” Mingyu says back, and the two of them laugh, Jihoon in his head-thrown-back-and-slapping-anything-near (this time it was the table surface) way. Mingyu suddenly remembers Soonyoung. Apparently, not all of his friends hate Jihoon. “Hey, Jihoonie? What if a student confesses his love to you?”

It’s the funniest thing ever to Jihoon, and he’s clutching his stomach and banging his palm on the table again. “That’s never gonna happen!”

“No, just what _if?_ What would you do?”

“Come on, I’m not popular,” Jihoon says, going back to his noodles. “Never have been, never will be. You know I only got a husband because of that arrangement.”

Mingyu frowns. He hated it when Jihoon made self-deprecating comments. “You’re attractive, Jihoonie!” he insists. _I’d marry you if I hadn’t already._

Jihoon blinks. “Thanks? I’m not really popular with students though. It’s Mr. Hong that’s always getting love letters.”

Nodding, Mingyu tries to concentrate on his nearly-finished bowl of noodles.

“Aren’t _you_ really popular?” Jihoon suddenly asks. “You seem to have a lot of girls following you around.”

“I guess?” Mingyu’s never really thought about it, but he did get his fair share of confessions and love letters and girls twirling their hair while talking to him. He was tall and his face was handsome, so he couldn’t help it, he decided.

“You should date them,” Jihoon says casually, helping himself to another bowl of noodles. “It’s not like we’re married because we want to be.”

The way Mingyu’s heart sinks at that must have shown on his face, because Jihoon’s howling with laughter while pointing at his face. Jihoon always found others’ plight funny.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still no explanations why anything is happening, this fic is kind of a slice-of-life thing apparently. Slight Soonhoon

“Jihoon, get up. I don’t wanna be late.”

Groaning, Jihoon buries his head further under his pillow. Mingyu sighs. Since the two of them got married, Mingyu was always late to his first class. He thought Jihoon was a proper, responsible adult, but it turned out that being married to him gave Mingyu the huge responsibility of waking him up.

“Mr. Lee,” Mingyu calls, shaking Jihoon’s shoulders. “Students are gonna start complaining to their parents that you’re always late. Do you want that?”

No response.

Taking a deep breath, Mingyu pulls Jihoon away from his pillow by his legs, then hoists Jihoon’s body on his shoulder roughly. Jihoon’s kicking the air and pounding on his back with his fists, but Morning Jihoon is not very strong, so Mingyu manages to carry him all the way to the kitchen.

Jihoon is dropped on a chair, his hair a mess and looking like he’s ready to kill anything that moves. He takes a sip of the coffee Mingyu sets in front of him and his expression softens somewhat.

“Why can’t you wake me up normally?” Jihoon complains after he’s finished his coffee in one continuous gulp. He scrubs at his eyes with his hands and Mingyu almost thinks he’s cute, but Jihoon is infuriating today.

“Why can’t _you_ wake up normally?” Mingyu barks back. He’s annoyed, yes, but he sets the bowls of rice and side dishes he’d prepared in front of Jihoon anway. “You’re always so difficult! You’re the adult here, not me! Why can’t you act like one!”

Jihoon glowers at him, shoving chunks of rice into his mouth angrily.

“I’ll wash up and get dressed. You better be done eating when I come back!” Mingyu threatens before stomping off. Why couldn’t Jihoon be more responsible? Or more considerate? He’s a full five years older than Mingyu and has a full-time job, so he should be an expert at adult-ing and not depending on his younger husband.

“Don’t tell me what to do, kid!” Jihoon yells after him.

-

The drive to the train station is silent. Mingyu’s plugged in his earphones; he didn’t want to listen to even Jihoon’s stupid Justin Bieber songs (although he had to admit that Justin Bieber had pretty good songs lately).

“I’m not making you dinner tonight,” Mingyu says haughtily when they get to the station. Jihoon shrugs nonchalantly, not even looking at Mingyu. Mingyu makes a face at him one last time before getting out of the car, making sure to slam the door shut extra hard.

-

Second period is history class, meaning Mingyu would have to look at Jihoon’s stupid face for an hour.

“I don’t feel like teaching today, so today I’m having you write an essay on last week’s discussion about the Korean war.”

Groans resound inside the classroom, but Jihoon’s cold stare gets them to shut up immediately. Jihoon sits down at the teacher’s desk after writing on the board that they were to write down what they remembered and then what their reaction was. He cups his face in his hands, elbows resting on the desk, and stares at Mingyu. Mingyu glares back. How dare Lee Jihoon abuse his power as a teacher to get back at him? Mingyu wasn’t even the one at fault, it was Jihoon who wasn’t cooperating this morning and he’d only done what he could to get them both to school.

“Hey, Gyu.”

Mingyu turns to look at Soonyoung, whose seat was beside him.

“Whoa, chill, it’s just an essay!” Soonyoung says defensively. Apparently, the glare on Mingyu’s face hadn’t left. “Lemme borrow a pen.”

Mingyu doesn’t have an extra pen, so Soonyoung does a very Soonyoung thing to do: draw attention to himself. He doesn’t even do it on purpose, Mingyu thinks, he’s just naturally very loud and outgoing. Soonyoung raises his hand and calls “Mr. Lee!!”

Jihoon doesn’t even move. “Yes?”

“I don’t have a pen!” Soonyoung announces. He smiles with a hint of shyness. “Can I borrow one from you?”

This fucker. He was trying to get close to Jihoon. Mingyu narrows his eyes at Jihoon, waiting for his reaction. Jihoon thankfully looks like he doesn’t care, as usual, but gets a pen from his pen case and beckons for Soonyoung to get it at his desk.

Soonyoung looks very happy as he bounds to the teacher’s desk. He very obviously tries to touch Jihoon’s hand by holding out his own hand for the pen, but Jihoon drops it on his hand. “Sir, thank you!” Soonyoung says with a salute before going back to his desk. He grins at Mingyu victoriously.

“You. The one who borrowed the pen.”

Soonyoung looks back at Jihoon. “Yes?”

“Fix your necktie. I can see your collarbones.”

-

“Gyu, he was checking out my collarbones!” Soonyoung slaps at Mingyu’s back excitedly. “And I have his pen!”

Mingyu frowns. Why was this guy even his friend and why was he even eating lunch with him; he was a pervert who perved over teachers. And the teacher was his very own Jihoonie! He opens his packed lunch in silence, rejecting Soonyoung when he asks for some of it.

Seungkwan is also frowning, but only because Soonyoung had “very bad taste”. Seokmin was genuinely happy for his friend, cheering Soonyoung on loudly.

-

 

After a grueling day at school (having to listen to Soonyoung fawn over his husband, who was apparently ‘even cuter up close’), Mingyu goes to his part-time job at the convenience store near the apartment he and Jihoon shared. A few hours and an impromptu rap battle with fellow part-timer Wonwoo later, he sees a familiar mop of pink hair enter the premises. Mingyu frowns, remembering this morning’s argument, but greets Jihoon anyway with the opening spiel for customers. Jihoon nods in acknowledgement.

Jihoon buys a canned coffee and pays at Wonwoo’s lane instead of Mingyu’s, then sits at the empty tables for customers. He takes out papers from his bag and starts grading them, occasionally sneaking glances at Mingyu. He stays like that for a few hours, until he gets up and goes to the freezers again.

For some reason, Jihoon goes to Mingyu’s lane this time, paying for two cups of ice cream. Mingyu thanks him like he would a normal customer. He’s surprised when Jihoon holds one cup of ice cream to him.

  
“What?” Mingyu asks. He’s confused but takes the ice cream anyway. Wonwoo stares at the scene. He’s got nothing better to do, as there weren’t any other customers in need of assistance. 

“Your shift is almost over, isn’t it?” Jihoon asks. He’s looking away from Mingyu, his ears noticeably red. “I, um… Where do you wanna eat. I’lltreatyou.” Jihoon shuffles back to the seating area quickly.

“What was that?” Wonwoo looks as confused as Mingyu. “You know him?”

The ice cream is starting to numb his hands, so Mingyu sets it on the counter. “Yeah. He’s my…” He couldn’t say he was married; he was a high school student. “Boyfriend.” He feels his face heat up. Jihoon would probably kill him if he’d heard that.

Wonwoo nods, but stares at Mingyu blankly for a while. “You go ahead, Mingyu,” he says at last. “I can handle the 0 customers we have by myself.”

Mingyu thanks him by giving him his ice cream.

-

“What is this?” Mingyu asks as they’re seated at a nearby family restaurant waiting for their chicken.

“You said you wouldn’t cook,” Jihoon mumbles. “So I’m taking you out.”

Oh, right. He didn’t really mean it, but apparently it had scared Jihoon into buying him food. Mingyu thinks he knows how to threaten Jihoon now, but he wasn’t going exploit him.

Wait.

Mingyu smiles, his canines showing.

“Is this your way of apologizing?” he asks happily.

“I just don’t want to starve,” Jihoon says back grumpily. He cracks a smile when Mingyu laughs, and pretty soon they’re both laughing, no apologies needed to fix their little argument.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally a little back story otl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have absolutely no idea about the Korean school system or their marriage laws so just disregard any knowledge of them because everything in this fic probably all wrong lmao

It’s at a seemingly normal family dinner that Mingyu first finds out he’s going to be a married man.

“Oh, right,” his father says as his wife is refilling his rice bowl. Mingyu hopes it’s not another one of his dad’s lame puns. “We’ve arranged for you to marry someone, Mingyu.”

Well, that was unexpectedly funny. Mingyu finds himself laughing with his sister. “That’s a good one, Dad!”

“I’m serious. You’re meeting him tomorrow for a first date,” his father explains.

“No way!”

“It’s true,” Mingyu’s mother quips. “He’s an old colleague’s son, isn’t he, honey?”

“Yeah. Listen, son, I know you haven’t finished high school yet but you’re already of legal age.” The look on his father’s face is so serious that Mingyu almost believes him.  
  
“He’s apparently a young professional and very handsome and very smart,” his mother chimes in. “We’d let him marry your sister but you know she’s too young. And we know you prefer men so you’ll have to do.” Oh man, they’re even using his gayness in this elaborate joke.

“I’m sure it’ll go great, he’s a teacher so he can help you with your studies,” Mingyu’s father continues. “But if it doesn’t, you can divorce him. But only after being married for a while. That’ll be okay, right, buddy?” He gives Mingyu the dashing smile Mingyu had inherited.

His sister laughs hysterically. “You’re so ugly they have to arrange a marriage for you!”

“You look like me so you’re ugly too!” Mingyu shoots back.

It’s a happy, light-hearted family dinner and Mingyu doesn’t think much of the prospect of marriage until the next day, when he’s in a suit and tie, sitting alone in a private reserved booth in a posh restaurant. He’s wondering how far his dad would go for this prank, it was kind of impressive, when he sees one of his teachers being led to him by a waitress.

“Kim Mingyu?” Mr. Lee asks once he’s thanked the waitress. He’s also in a suit, a navy blue one that contrasts with his pink hair. Mingyu nods dumbly as Mr. Lee shakes his hand. “I’m Lee Jihoon.”

“I know.” Mingyu’s giggling now. Really, how’d his dad get Mr. Lee to play along with him? Mr. Lee was like Oscar the Grouch or the Grinch, or Squidward, except he wasn’t green but with pink hair. He was always grumpy and Mingyu’s classmates hated him. He’d even made several students cry when he was their teacher during freshman year, but Mingyu thought he wasn’t so bad.

Mr. Lee is frowning at him, the default face Mingyu had remembered him to always have. “Excuse me?”

“Mr. Lee, I’m your student,” Mingyu says, biting his lip to keep from bursting into laughter again.

Mr. Lee’s eyes go wider than Mingyu’s ever seen them. “You’re still a high school student?”

“Yeah, I’m a senior!” Mingyu wants to laugh at the look of horror on Mr. Lee’s face, but why was he so horrified anyway? Wasn’t this a prank on Mingyu? “Hey, Mr. Lee, why’d you agree to go along with this prank?” he asks once they’ve ordered their food.

The teacher is massaging his temples with his fingers, slightly messing up his pink bangs. Mr. Lee had suddenly showed up to school with pink hair one day without any explanation, but rumors said a student had put pink dye in his shampoo during a school trip. Mingyu thought it suited him better than the blonde hair, so he concluded that that was probably why Mr. Lee had kept it that way.

The food is served to them, Mingyu in awe at how expensive everything looks but still thinking he could do better. They eat in silence, Mingyu sneaking awkward glances at Mr. Lee once in a while. His teacher looked serious and it scared him.

“It’s not a prank,” Mr. Lee says. He gives Mingyu a cold stare. “Look, kid, I need this marriage and I don’t have time to find anyone else, so you’ll have to do.”

Mingyu blinks as Mr. Lee produces a marriage application form from his bag. “Whoa! Is this for real?!” He sees that Mr. Lee’s already filled up his part of the form.

“I’ll be coming to pick up the form tomorrow. I expect you to have filled it up by then. There’ll be a small ceremony and then there’s an apartment we can move to.”

Mingyu chews his food slowly, staring at the unanswered questions on the form. “You sure this isn’t a prank?” he asks timidly.

That look that says “we already fucking talked about this” Mr. Lee gives him is enough to get Mingyu to take the whole arranged situation seriously. And wow, did it scare him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> finally a little prequel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so short and updated after like 50,000 years and it is still vague I'm sorry!

Wedding vows.

The two of them were technically already married; they already have a marriage certificate and their names already registered as "married" by the government, but for some reason Mr. Lee insisted they go through the hassle of having a short ceremony. Mingyu doesn't understand why he would go through this and not meeting each other's parents first. Marriage is confusing.

The hotel banquet hall looks good: brightly lit, with fresh yellow and white flowers as decorations. Mingyu thinks he himself looks great in the white suit and bowtie he's wearing. Mr. Lee is wearing a similar outfit, looking like he wants to be anywhere but where he was right now as the priest (Mingyu doubted he was an actual priest as he was reading out the vows to them, shouldn't priests already know this by heart? Then again, Mingyu had only been to a wedding once, and that was when he was five years old) was already telling them to put on the rings and the ceremony had started only ten minutes ago, if Mingyu's estimate was correct.

Mingyu is absolutely sure Mr. Lee would never, in his entire lifetime, kiss him, stifling a laugh when they've already put their rings on and the priest is telling them to kiss, but his teacher is pulling him down to his height by the lapels of his fancy white coat, on tiptoes as he pressed a kiss on Mingyu's cheek.

"Did you get that?" he hears Mr. Lee ask a nearby photographer (for some reason there were more than one of them, and Mingyu felt like a celebrity), after wiping off his mouth with the back of his hand like Mingyu was something poisonous.

Mingyu stands there stunned, being applauded by the small group of guests which consisted of the hotel staff and Mingyu's family. He could see his sister giggling at the corner of his eye. He would so get her for this once he had the chance.

Mr. Lee pulls him out of his daze by the sleeve, dragging him to the buffet table, and Mingyu feels like he's in his element again. As Mr. Lee seemed to want to cut the formalities into as short a time as possible, he'd combined the reception and wedding ceremony. Mingyu isn't complaining, but he's dead set on enjoying this part at least and piles his plate with all the meat dishes he can find, sitting with his family at the table.

"Why are you here? Go to your cute new husband!" his mother shoos him away and Mingyu feels abandoned. He gloomily trudges to where Mr. Lee was sitting with his own tall pile of food.

"The beef is really good," Mr. Lee says through a mouthful of the said beef. He slaps Mingyu's hand when Mingyu reaches out to get some. "Get your own!"

"Mr. Lee, why aren't your parents here?" Mingyu asks after a while. It was weird that the only guests were his family. Of course he couldn't invite his friends or other relatives, but where were Mr. Lee's parents?

Mr. Lee shrugs. "Busy," he mumbles before shoving a chunk of rice in his mouth.

It's a satisfying meal; Mingyu doesn't regret being married one bit after having eaten the food, until he and Mr. Lee had to have their pictures taken while cutting the small wedding cake they had, stiff and unnatural smiles getting even more awkward as they had to comply to the photographers' instructions to feed each other cake and be cute about it. The cake made up for the embarrassment though.

-

"Good work today," Mr. Lee tells Mingyu once it's only the two of them in the wedding suite. Mingyu's family had said their goodbyes and congratulated the two of them, his sister's greetings more poking fun than genuinely happy for her brother. "Man, that was a pain." Mr. Lee yawns as he plops down a comfy-looking chair, and Mingyu finds himself thinking his teacher was actually pretty cute.

Mingyu sits down on the other chair, digging his head back against the soft cushions. Who knew getting married was this exhausting? He didn't understand why people would do this to themselves on purpose. He closes his eyes, almost dozing off until he hears his new husband talking.

"Kim Mingyu."

He pries his eyes open to look at Mr. Lee. "Yes?"

Mr. Lee's staring at the smartphone he's holding, ears red. "Take… Take a selca with me."

Mingyu grins and sits on the armrest of Mr. Lee's chair. "I take great selcas, Mr. Lee! You picked the right person to take a selca with," he brags, taking the other's phone and flashing his selca smile at the camera. He looks good, as usual. Mr. Lee wasn't so bad-looking in the picture either.

Mr. Lee gives him a stiff smile of approval once he’s checked the selca. “Thank you.” He gets up from his chair, shrugging off his jacket. “I’ll go shower. You can have the bed. I made sure to get a room with a couch, so I’ll sleep there,” he says casually, pointing to the part of the room with the bed.

Oh, right. It hadn’t hit him when his family said their goodbyes to him and his new husband, but Mingyu was to spend the night with this guy Mr. Lee. And many other nights. The rest of his life if they didn’t get divorced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please do leave a comment or talk to me on Twitter! My username is @jihoonielove :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaah an update after what, months? A big thank you to everyone who reads this! I hope this extra long chapter makes up for the late ass update xD

After a satisfying but quiet buffet breakfast at the hotel, Jihoon had driven Mingyu home in silence, opting to plug in his earphones and not talk until they arrived. Then he had said a quick goodbye, leaving Mingyu alone in front of his house with a bag of leftover wedding cake.

Mingyu went inside, his parents asking him if he'd been on his best behavior and did he not embarrass them. He announced that he was going to take a nap. The hotel had been comfortable and he had been able to sleep well, better than he slept at home at least, the mattresses at the hotel softer than the one on his bed, but being with Lee Jihoon…

Mingyu liked to talk. And being with someone so utterly uninterested in listening and talking to him was exhausting, to say the least. It wasn't that Jihoon was rude to him, just sort of avoided talking to him much. And not being able to express himself was something that exhausted Mingyu a lot.

He goes inside his room, ready to collapse on his bed, only to find it gone and in its place, a bunch of cardboard boxes. Actually, all the contents of his room had been converted into boxes and boxes, stacked neatly on top of each other. He called for his mom.

"Sweetie, we've already packed your stuff," his mother cooed. "You're moving in with your new husband today."

Mingyu wanted to scream and cry, but he was a grown man now, so he sucked it up. And took a deep breath before complaining in the most grown man possible way: "Why?! Why didn't I hear about this?!"

"Jihoon said he told you during your first date."

"Can I have his room?" his sister called from outside in her most charming voice. Mingyu stared at her in disbelief. This little shit!

"Hey, I'm not going anywhere, you can't have my room," Mingyu barked at her. He turned to his mom with pleading eyes, whining "Mom, I want to stay here! I don't want to move out!"

"Oh, honey, but you have to," his mother insisted. Mingyu clings to her and she reaches up to pat her oversized son on the head. "You'll be fine. Jihoon's a nice boy."

"He's not!" Mingyu cries. But the truth was he didn’t really know if Lee Jihoon was a “nice” person or not. How could he know if they didn’t even talk to each other?

-

Summer vacation was only summer vacation to students, not teachers.

Lee Jihoon knew that, but it still annoyed him that he had to report to work in the sweltering heat, instead of just listening to music in the comfort of his airconditioned room. Before going to the faculty room to fix his lesson plans though, he decided to pay a visit to the principal's office. He knocks on the wooden door before poking his head inside, calling out: "Yejin noona."

Yejin was arguing with her boyfriend on the phone again. She's twirling a lock of her long, wavy hair impatiently, slightly spinning in her chair from side to side. She motioned for Jihoon to come inside quickly and shut the door behind him, which he does. He sat down on the chair in front of Yejin's desk, waiting for her argument with her boyfriend about who would be buying orange juice to die down. In the few years Jihoon had known her she'd dated all sorts of problematic men, arguing with them on the phone all the time and complaining to Jihoon afterwards. Looking at her now, Jihoon could only think of relationships as bothersome.

Jihoon looked around the room absently, trying to block out the sound of Yejin's voice. The walls still had the faded yellow wallpaper that Yejin hated, but she had attempted to decorate the room in a more youthful style: airy sheer curtains on the windows, a few succulents on the desk and a corkboard behind her chair decorated with polaroids of her and her colleagues and students.

She was too young to be principal, Yejin had complained to him after work one day. He'd seen it coming; the old principal had been taking more and more breaks, leaving assistant principal Yejin to do all the work, the old obviously tired of work already and in a hurry to retire. When he finally did retire, of course Yejin had gotten the position. Jihoon thought she was doing pretty well, she was well-liked and students didn't want to worry her, so most of them stayed out of trouble. He kind of missed her though, she was busier than ever and never went home with him anymore unlike when they were still just co-teachers. She was one of the few people Jihoon considered his close friends.

"That's Principal Lee to you, mister," Yejin says after a few more minutes of phone conversation. Then she laughs, like she laughed at everything. Almost everything was funny to Yejin. "So, what is it, Jihoonie?" She crossed her long legs.

Jihoon chews on his lower lip before saying quietly: "I got married."

"Oh my god." Yejin's jaw dropped. Then, she smiled like he’d just told her a joke. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure," Jihoon huffed. How could anyone not be sure about getting married?

"But you didn't even have a girlfriend! Or a boyfriend!" Yejin accused. "Or did you?" she eyed him suspiciously.

"No, I did not." Jihoon sighed. "It was arranged."

"Oh, okay. That's good." Yejin looked relieved. Probably because she'd been wanting to get married, always complaining to Jihoon about it over drinks. "Well, who is it? And why didn't you invite me to the wedding?" She pouted, looking betrayed.

"Actually, that's why I want to keep it a secret. It's a student." Jihoon stared at Yejin's shocked face before continuing: "I don't know if you know him. His name is Kim Mingyu."

"No way!” Yejin looked surprised. She let out a giggle before saying with glee: “That stud muffin?!"

"Stud muffin?" Yejin sure made weird word choices sometimes.

"You know how many cat fights I've had to break up because of that kid? But really, I'd join them in fighting about him if I was 15 years younger," Yejin joked. "He's really handsome! Does he have an older brother?"

"Don't you have a boyfriend now?" Jihoon pointed out. "And no, he's the eldest in their family."

Yejin whined and stretched her arms out on her desk, laying her head down on them lazily. "Everyone's getting married but me."

Jihoon gave her a pat on the head. "Aren't you going to scold me for marrying a student? It might cause a scandal."

"It's fine, it's fine." Yejin waved her hand lazily. "No one's getting knocked up so it won’t get out that easily. Just keep the marriage a secret until graduation, 'kay?"

"I will." Jihoon got up. "I have to do my lesson plans now."

"Oh." Yejin looked up, a smile on her face. "Congratulations, though, Jihoonie. I hope you enjoy being married! Ah, you're so lucky. I wish I was born into a rich family like yours so I could stop worrying about becoming an old maid."

"You're doing pretty well as a single woman though." Jihoon smiled. "Thanks, Yejin."

"Call me when he gives you trouble," Yejin yelled after him as he exited the room. "I'll give you a whole playlist worth of man-hating songs we can sing together at karaoke."

"I will."

He doubts he'd have any trouble with Mingyu though; he'd been avoiding him since they started living together.

-

Mingyu felt alone.

He moved to a neighborhood far away from his family and school, he couldn’t go to school on bike like he used to and would have to take the train every morning once the new semester started. He couldn’t call up his friends to hang out as much as he’d like to, as everyone was busy doing some advanced studying to have a headstart on the university entrance exams they would be taking after they graduated.

The worst thing of all was Lee Jihoon.

He was acting like Mingyu didn’t even exist. These days he went out a lot, Mingyu presumed he was working, and the only words he’d ever said to Mingyu were casual greetings when they happened to be inside the same area in the apartment. This wasn’t often, as Jihoon was usually holed up in his room whenever he was home.

“Mom, I wanna go home,” Mingyu bawled to his mother once over the phone.

His mother just cooed at him to stop crying and that he would always be her baby but now he was a married man so could he please stop crying and go back to studying for entrance exams.

He tried to get some chores done so he could establish a daily rhythm for himself. He cleaned up and did laundry, even cooked meals. He tried to be nice and would always wait for Jihoon to come home and have dinner with him, just so they could be at least on speaking terms, but Jihoon would always just shrug him off and tell him he’s already had dinner outside.

"Ah, I've eaten," Jihoon says again tonight as he passed by the kitchen on his way to the stairs, dragging his backpack, presumably filled with books and papers.

All the frustration pent up inside of Mingyu finally blows over and he bangs his fist on the dining table full of food he had painstakingly prepared, the sound stopping Jihoon on his tracks. Jihoon eyes him questioningly, mockingly, and Mingyu feels more pissed off than ever. "I have something to say!" Mingyu says loudly. Fuck being respectful to his elders, fuck being respectful to his teachers. Lee Jihoon had gotten on his last nerve and he was going to give him a piece of his mind. "Sit down!"

Jihoon shrugs, infuriatingly unfazed, leaving his bag on the floor and walking to the dining table to sit at the chair across Mingyu. His eyes never lose contact with Mingyu. "What is it? I've got lessons to plan."

Suddenly feeling intimidated by the cold stare, Mingyu took a deep breath before letting it out in a rapidly spoken rant: "I have no idea what your deal is but you obviously need this marriage and I don't and if you look at it that way I've done you a favor by marrying you and I'm doing you a favor by staying married to you so the least you could do is at least try to be a little friendlier because we're living together and it is so fucking awkward!!"

He's out of breath, his face feeling hot from all the excitement, and he has to take a gulp from the glass of water he'd prepared for his dinner. He doesn't miss the wide eyes and slightly agape mouth on his husband's face and he feels a sense of victory, but it's replaced by a twinge of fear when Jihoon directed his gaze at the table's surface instead. He contemplates taking his words back and apologizing for being disrespectful and that Jihoon can do whatever he wants, nibbling on his lip and looking at anywhere but Jihoon.

"You're… You're right."

Mingyu's head snaps up to look at his husband, his head of pink hair bowed towards him.

"I'm sorry."

Well, this was awkward. "I don't want an apology," Mingyu tries to say seriously, but his voice comes out all whiny and childish.

"Okay." Jihoon lifted his head up to look at Mingyu. "What do you want, then?"

"I just want… Like…" Mingyu's never been good with words; he always stumbled with them, unable to put his thoughts into coherent sentence at times. He sighed. "Just for you to talk to me, I guess. And eat meals with me sometimes. You've never even tried the stuff I cooked! I'm really good at this, you know." He scrunched his nose and stuck out his lower lip in a pout.

Nodding slowly, Jihoon takes the empty bowl Mingyu had prepared for him on the table, filling it up with rice and eating from the array of side dishes on the table.

Mingyu stared at him for a while, but gets over his shock and starts eating as well. "I thought you already ate," he mumbled.

"It was just a bowl of instant noodles at the convenience store," Jihoon admitted. He nodded in approval at the taste. "And you weren't lying when you said you were good at this."

Mingyu smiled. Then he remembered the words he spouted mindlessly earlier. "Mr. Lee, sorry for swearing earlier," he says with an apologetic bow.

"Jihoon."

"Huh?"

"Jihoon," Jihoon said through a mouthful of rice. He swallowed the food before continuing: "It's fucking weird to come home and still be called Mr. Lee."

"You cussed." Mingyu stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds, before laughing. "You cussed. You're not supposed to. You're a teacher."

"It's after work hours. I'm at home now," Jihoon pointed out. "Teachers are normal people too, you know."

For the first time, Mingyu felt like he could actually get along with this guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote ailee's character like that because a lot of her songs are break-up songs :)))


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cliché "someone is sick" chapter, how cliché is this fic lmao

The first day of school was the only day of the year that Lee Jihoon woke up early. He’s been teaching for years now and he still felt anxious about every new school year for some reason. Oh well, work was work. He gave one last yawn before finally getting up from his bed.

Apparently, today was also the only day Mingyu decided to sleep in. Jihoon found the kitchen dark and empty, neither breakfast nor Mingyu making breakfast to be found. The boy had made him breakfast, lunch and dinner most of the summer, so Jihoon felt more than a little disappointed.

He made his way to Mingyu's room, finding a huge blanket burrito on the bed. “Hey kid, time for school.” Jihoon shook him gently.

“Can’t,” Mingyu said weakly, voice muffled by the blanket. He coughed. “I’m sick.”

Jihoon didn’t believe him one bit. He yanked off the blanket from Mingyu's face and immediately regretted it. He did look sick; his eyes and nose both watery, and Jihoon didn’t need a thermometer to know that Mingyu's forehead was warmer than it should be when he pressed his palm to check it.

“Told you I was sick.” Mingyu wiped his nose with the sleeve of his sweater before pulling the blanket back on his body.

“Gross.” Jihoon looked around for some tissue, throwing a whole box on Mingyu's bed once he found one.

He announced that he’d get Mingyu some medicine and went back to the kitchen. He also checked for some leftovers Mingyu could eat when Jihoon was at work but found none. He massaged his temples before calling the principal to tell her he wouldn’t attend classes because Mingyu was sick and didn't have anything to eat and might burn down the house if he accidentally sneezed at the stove, but Yejin just cooed at him to take care of “the poor baby”.

Mingyu sat up in bed when Jihoon came back with a glass of water and some medicine. He was apparently only in a sweater and Thomas the Train underwear, which Jihoon had to laugh at.

“We live together, of course we’ll see each other in underwear sometimes,” Mingyu said with a pout. He lay back down after drinking his medicine.

Yesterday, Mingyu, after hanging out with his friends, came home drenched in rain water. He apparently got stuck at the train station without an umbrella when it started raining, and he couldn’t wait to come home any longer so he just walked home in the rain. If that wasn’t dumb enough, he stood around meddling with the pasta sauce Jihoon was cooking when he came home, dripping rain water all over the floor, much to Jihoon's chagrin. Jihoon thought he was fine yesterday after he had taken a warm shower, but apparently Mingyu kicked off his blanket in his sleep and because he was only wearing underwear and a thin sweater, he had gotten sick because of that. Mingyu really was an idiot. And now Jihoon had to take care of this idiot.

“Well, I’m staying home so just call me if you need anything,” Jihoon said before attempting to leave Mingyu’s room.

He immediately regretted his words, for the rest of the day was composed of Mingyu needing things. One minute he was cold and needed extra blankets, the next he was hungry and can Jihoon make him some soup please, and then he wanted some tea. By early afternoon, Jihoon was already more exhausted than he would have been on a regular work day.

He finally gets to take a break when Mingyu decided he wanted to take a nap, so Jihoon sits back on the living room couch watching tv. He hears Mingyu's bedroom door open and prays the boy just needed to take a leak.

Unfortunately, Mingyu sat down beside him. “Hey, can we cuddle?”

“What the fuck?” Jihoon glared at him. “No.”

“I’m cold. I couldn’t sleep.” Mingyu did indeed look cold, sniffling and even shivering a little.

“I’ll get you a hot water bottle if you want.”

“But that isn’t alive,” Mingyu whined as best as he could with his hoarse voice. “Don’t you like hugs, Jihoonie? They’re very comforting.”

“No.” Jihoon did not like skinship. He certainly didn’t want a hug from a germy oversized kid right now either.

“Please?”

“No way.”

“I wouldn’t be asking you if you agreed to adopt a dog in the first place and I had one to cuddle right now.” Mingyu pouted.

Jihoon let out a heavy sigh before opening his arms begrudgingly. They talked about this before and he already knew that Mingyu would never shut up about getting a dog once he got started. Mingyu wrapped his arms around his middle, tucking his head under Jihoon's chin and snuggling against his chest.

It’s not as awkward as Jihoon thought it would be, as bad as he was at skinship. Mingyu was warm and his hair smelled nice. Not too bad at all. Jihoon found himself relaxing into the hug, resting his chin on Mingyu's head more comfortably and even hugging back.

Mingyu hummed contentedly when Jihoon started stroking his hair absently. “Feels nice,” he murmured.

“Yeah?” Jihoon continued stroking his hair, one arm draped loosely across Mingyu’s back. “You know, you could’ve just called me if you were stuck in the rain. I would’ve drived and picked you up.”

Mingyu sniffled against his sweater. “Really?” he asked in a small voice.

“Really.”

“You wouldn’t be annoyed? I wouldn’t be a bother to you?”

“No.”

Mingyu hugged him extra tight for a few seconds before releasing his grip and settling into his previous more relaxed hold. “Thank you.”

They fall asleep like that, a warm and comfortable nap Jihoon hasn’t had in a long time.

It doesn’t last too long though. He wakes up when Mingyu pulls away from him in one sudden movement.

“Yuck! You drooled on my head!” Mingyu accused, voice loud despite being hoarse.

Jihoon's eyes snap wide open. “I _do not_ drool in my sleep,” he hissed. He quickly wiped at the side of his mouth, cheeks flaming up when it felt wet. He saw the wet stains on the front of his sweater. “You… you fucking got your snot on my sweater!!” he yelled, hitting Mingyu repeatedly with a throw pillow.

“I’m sick, stop being a meanie!” Mingyu cried as he held his arms up to defend himself.

“You are gross, so I can be a meanie!”


	7. Chapter 7

"Wonwoo hyung, can I tell you a secret?"  
  
Wonwoo looked up from his book. Mingyu was useful to have around at the convenience store they worked at part-time, as the younger man did a lot of the work more enthusiastically than Wonwoo ever would, but right now Wonwoo just wanted to read. "I am kind of busy here?"

Mingyu pouted at him. "But I'm not doing anything." True, the two of them were alone in the convenience store right now and most of the shelving and inventory work were done. No customers also meant free time. "I have personal problems I want to talk about."  
  
Damn Mingyu, Wonwoo was already getting to the suspenseful part of the mystery novel he was reading. He sighed as he slid a receipt in between the pages of his book before closing it. "Just make sure it's more interesting than this book."  
  
"Oh." Mingyu chewed on his bottom lip. "I guess it's pretty interesting. Remember that guy with pink hair who came here last week?"

"Uh-huh." Love problems, huh? Wonwoo was already bored. "Your boyfriend."

"He's actually my teacher."

"Huh? Okay." Wonwoo had been so sure Mingyu was going to confess that his boyfriend was in elementary school or something, the guy looked young. "I thought he was younger than you."

Mingyu laughed, a shy smile spread across his face. "Isn't he the cutest?"

"Yeah, he's cute," Wonwoo agreed.

"He is _mine_ ," Mingyu countered possessively.  "And he's actually my husband already. We had an arranged marriage."

"Huh? You're kidding."

A bunch of awkward wedding photos on Mingyu's phone says otherwise.

"What the fuck, people actually do this shit? I thought this only happened in dramas," Wonwoo said in disbelief as he swiped through the pictures. "Are you rich or something?"

Mingyu shook his head. "No, but…"

-

"Can I get a part-time job?" Mingyu asked timidly over dinner one evening. "There's an opening at that convenience store nearby."

"Sure." Jihoon swallowed his rice before continuing: "Why'd you have to ask me though? Am I your parent? Am I adult supervision?"

"Oh. Yeah." Mingyu was an adult now and could do anything without parental consent, but for some reason he felt like he just had to ask for Jihoon's permission. "Do you have a printer though? I need to print out my resume."

Jihoon nodded. "I have one in my room."

They go to Jihoon's room after hurriedly washing the dishes. The room is mostly neat, aside from a pile of paper on the desk that Mingyu itched to organize. It's a boring room in Mingyu's opinion, mostly black and white and basic furniture.

"Oh cool, you've got a bean bag!" Mingyu plops down onto the black bean bag on the floor, stretching his arms out comfortably.

"You just got excited about a chair," Jihoon remarked from where he's seated in front of a desktop computer.

Mingyu was about to protest about bean bags being so much cooler than normal chairs, but he sees a row of figures in front of Jihoon's monitor and he gets up to look at them over Jihoon's shoulder. "Hey, you collect toys? I like gunpla and remote control cars. You like the X-men? I didn't know you were this cool!!" Mingyu babbled excitedly.

"Yeah, uh, thanks I guess," Jihoon mumbled, turning to the screen which showed that the computer had finally booted. His ears were noticeably red as he held out his palm. "The file you wanted to print out?"

Mingyu hands him his flash drive and sits back down on the bean bag. "You'd be the most popular teacher ever if you told your students!"

"No way. Then they'll be all chummy and won't respect me as their teacher." Jihoon scrunched his nose. He stared at the row of toys thoughtfully. "I used to have more but they kind of cluttered up my room. I donated the others to an orphanage."

"Why?! Those look like collector's items though!" Mingyu looked at him in disbelief. These items looked like hardcore collector geeks would still buy them, as they were well-taken care of. Jihoon sure wasted that opportunity to earn money, what was he even thinking… Then it hit him. "Are you an orphan?" he blurted out.

Mingyu had never seen Lee Jihoon laugh before, and it was like Jihoon didn't laugh his whole life and managed to hold in all his laughter to let it out now. He laughed with his head thrown back, his eyes squeezed closed and his hand slamming down on the desk surface repeatedly.

Mingyu pouted at him. "What's so funny?"

Still laughing, Jihoon opened his eyes to look at him. He wiped a tear from the corner of one eye, his guffawing finally reduced to chuckles. " 'Are you an orphan'?! Where did that come from?! Just because I donate to an orphanage, I'm an orphan?! Can't I so happen to have a co-teacher who volunteers at the orphanage and he asked for donations?" He starts laughing again and Mingyu feels his cheeks turn red.

"But, you donate such expensive stuff! You could've sold those!" Mingyu reasoned. "And your parents weren't at your wedding," he added quietly, regretting it immediately. That was such an insensitive thing to say.

Thankfully, Jihoon didn't look offended. "My parents are very much alive. I told you, they're busy."

"Wouldn't they do everything to see their son get married?" Mingyu's parents sure were happy that they had an occasion to dress up for where they could eat good food.

"No. Not them," Jihoon answered nonchalantly. "Their company is more like their child than I am."

"Huh, your parents own a company?!" Mingyu hadn't heard about this before. "Why didn't my parents tell me?!"

Jihoon shrugged. "Your dad was my dad's coworker. I guess they knew each other before the family company became successful, so it's probably not that big of a deal to your dad."

"Oh." That didn't make much sense to Mingyu. Wasn't someone's background the first thing parents look at when their children got married? But his dad had told him Jihoon was 'an old colleague's son' so Jihoon was probably right. "Then, you needed to get married for inheritance?"

"No." This time Jihoon did look offended. "I have a job. I can earn my own money."

Mingyu thought that was cool, Jihoon was so independent and confident in his own abilities. He was still curious though. "Then why..?"

Jihoon ignored him, instead laughing at Mingyu's ID picture on the monitor. "Why were you so happy to have your picture taken?"

"Hey, my mom said I was handsome in that," Mingyu argued. Then he sighed. "So you don't want to tell me."

Jihoon pursed his lips and stared at the screen and for a while the only sound in the room was the printer. "It's stupid," he says quietly after a while.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I had a normal family before business started picking up for my parents. They were never home, so my grandma brought me up most of my life." Jihoon looked thoroughly embarrassed and uncomfortable, fidgeting in his seat.

"And then??" Mingyu asked impatiently.

"She's at a retirement home back in my hometown and wanted me to get married before she dies. So I had 'someone to take care of me'." Jihoon's face was pink now. "I can take care of myself but I know I'll regret it if I don't at least grant her last wish after all she's done for me, so I called up my parents to get them to arrange a marriage."

MIngyu thought about that for a while. He's actually so touched by the story that he wants to pull Jihoon into a hug for being so selfless.

"Told you it was stupid," Jihoon mumbled.

"It's not stupid." Mingyu grinned at him. "It's actually a better reason than getting married for money."

Jihoon looked down at him from his swivel chair. "You think?"

Mingyu nodded.

"You're weird," Jihoon told him, but he seemed happy. The tension from his shoulders went away and he leaned back to his seat. "I would be pissed if I had to get married just because someone's grandma is dying."

They spend some time laughing at the awkward wedding photos on Jihoon's computer, the feeding-each-other-cake shots being the most awkward of all the pictures. It feels comfortable being able to laugh with Jihoon about stupid things like this, but not comfortable enough for Mingyu to feel like he's stayed in his room for too long.

"Well, good night then," he says before getting up from the bean bag.

"Good night, Mingu." The guy he didn't even know could smile until a few weeks ago gives him the cutest eye smile he's ever seen in his entire life, and Mingyu feels at ease with him somehow. Jihoon sees him out the door which was weird because they lived in the same house, but also kind of nice and gentlemanly.

"Good night." Mingyu waves his resume at him before he headed off to the direction of his room.

"We can get divorced the moment my grandma dies," Jihoon called.

Mingyu didn't know how to feel about that.

-

"That's it?!" Wonwoo asked in disbelief. "His grandma was dying so you just _had_ to marry him?!"

Mingyu nodded, a sheepish grin on his face. "Isn't he the sweetest? He's so selfless."

"That reason is as selfish as any reason to have an arranged marriage. I'd be pissed if I was you," Wonwoo decided. No one in their right mind would be okay with their lives getting changed drastically just because someone's grandma was dying.

Mingyu looked offended. "Why do you think that? Isn't it the most selfless thing to change your whole lifestyle and marry a complete stranger for someone else's happiness?"

"He may have made a few sacrifices, but think about it. You have absolutely nothing to do with it and your whole life was messed up like that."

Mingyu frowned at him. "My life isn't messed up. I like being with him even."

"You just got used to it. And didn't you say you had personal problems and that it's related to this?" Now Mingyu looked confused. Wonwoo felt a little guilty for making the poor kid actually stop and think, but decides that he was just looking out for him as the older one. At least the story was kind of interesting. But then the mystery novel… "Are you done now?" he asked, wanting to get back to the book as soon as possible.

"Not yet."

Wonwoo sighed defeatedly and retracted his hand from his book. "Well? And what was that about him being rich?"

Mingyu nodded. "His parents own Lee Music. That music store?"

Know? Wonwoo bought his first guitar back in middle school from one of their branches, and also the drum set he saved up for back in high school. Occasionally he stopped by and stared longingly at the instruments displayed at the window. From what Wonwoo knew, it was a company that owned a bunch of shops nationwide that sold all sorts of instruments, both locally-made and imported. They also have a music label under them housing several popular acts. "What the fuck, you married such a big-shot? You should inherit that damn company if he doesn't want it! Then you can make me an idol or something."

Mingyu laughed at that. "You'd look awkward dancing. Hey hyung, I haven't even told you my problem yet!"

Oh yeah, stupid Mingyu kept getting sidetracked. "Well, what is it?"

"My friends know I have a boyfriend named Jihoon and they want to meet him, but of course I can't let them know it's our teacher!"

Wonwoo already didn't like where this was going but he stared at Mingyu's eager expression anyway.

"I know you're very lame, but can you pretend to be my cool and handsome older boyfriend?"

Wonwoo regretted not continuing to read his book in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this chapter a long time ago but i thought this back story was v stupid but i can't think of any other back story otl so i just went with this one oh my god i'll go hide now


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gooood i didn't think i would be able to still continue this fic but here i am again! I hope there are still people who remember this fic hahah. Thank you for all the comments and kudos and sorry for the wait! I hope I'll be able to update more frequently!

“Hey Mingyu, who’s Jihoonie?”

Mingyu felt his heart drop to his stomach. He had left his phone with his friends in the classroom when he went to wash his hands (his damn pen broke and made a mess of black ink on his hands, much to his friends' amusement). He forgot that they could be nosy and that he had secrets he couldn’t tell them.

“More specifically, heart heart sparkle Jihoonie sparkle peach-“

Grabbing his phone from Seokmin's hands (Seokmin almost falling off from the desk he was sitting on, Mingyu thought it was too bad that he didn’t), Mingyu says a bit too loudly: “No one!”

Seokmin narrowed his eyes at him, and it looked creepy paired with the smile pasted on his face eternally. “Didn’t seem like no one,” he said suspiciously. “Must be really close to you if he’s asking you to buy milk.”

“Why didn’t you tell us you got a boyfriend!” Soonyoung accused.

“Holy shit, did you already move in with him?!” Seungkwan cried out, earning shocked gasps from their group of friends. “You said you were moving away to take care of your sick uncle but you actually eloped with a guy?!”

“No!!” Mingyu looked back at the three pairs of eyes staring at him intently, awaiting an explanation from him. He couldn’t come up with an excuse to have someone demand that he buy them milk or why he had to save their number surrounded by hearts and sparkles, so he blurted out: “Fine, I have a boyfriend!”

-

“Hyung, you have to help me!” 

“No way.”

It’s been an hour since Mingyu asked Wonwoo to act as a fake boyfriend, and Wonwoo had gone back to reading on the floor. But Mingyu sure was desperate. And annoyingly persistent.

“Say the magic words first,” Wonwoo said, not looking up from his book.

“I already said ‘please’ multiple times!” Mingyu wailed.

“Not that. Magic words. As in, what I'm going to get out of this.”

Mingyu thought for a moment. “I’ll buy you a book.” That was probably the way to Wonwoo's heart. He was always reading, or telling Mingyu to shut up because he wanted to read. Mingyu felt proud of himself for coming up with this.

“Just _a_ book?”

“ _Books_?” Mingyu asked hopefully. “Whatever you want.”

Wonwoo looked up from his book, seeing Mingyu bending down to stare at him. He scrunched his nose. “If you buy me the limited edition box set of classics that I want, I’ll consider.”

Mingyu grinned victoriously, oblivious of the cost of books. “Deal!”

-

“This is my boyfriend Jihoon,” Mingyu says sheepishly.

“I’m his boyfriend Jihoon,” Wonwoo deadpans beside him. 

Seungkwan, Seokmin and Soonyoung look at each other.

"He's handsome!" they all exclaim loudly. They then praise Mingyu for being handsome enough to snag a man like that. Mingyu can only grin in what he hoped looked like a shy way, but deep inside he just found the whole situation awkward.

Wonwoo turned out to be the perfect fake boyfriend. Not only was did he have the looks of an actor, but he was pretty good at acting cool too. Mingyu was surprised he didn't make any lame puns (which he feared he was going to whenever Wonwoo so much as breathed). 

Mingyu's friends were treated to ice cream by his cool older boyfriend (Mingyu was sure he would be paying for this too though, he thought regrettably) and Wonwoo smoothly managed to cut the meeting-the-friends scenario with a cringey "now I want to have Mingyu to myself" excuse. Mingyu wanted to puke but Soonyoung fanboyed over how "cute" they were.

-

"That wasn't too bad," Wonwoo decided once they got away from Mingyu's friends and the tall boy could heave a sigh of relief. "Your friends seem okay. I bet they would've found my puns punny." He chortled at his own joke.

"No they wouldn't," Mingyu whined.

They sat on a park bench for a while, watching the sky get darker as the sun started setting.

"You okay?" Wonwoo asked. The younger boy seemed awfully quiet for someone who just got out of a sticky situation, eyes staring out into the distance.

"I dunno, hyung." Mingyu sighed, shoulders slumped in defeat. "I don't want this secret marriage to get out and be troublesome for Jihoon, but I hate lying to my friends."

Wonwoo nodded silently. Somehow this kid was still thinking about his friends, no matter how "annoying" he described them to Wonwoo when they were planning their fake boyfriend story. He ruffled Mingyu's hair. "You're a good friend. They'll understand when you tell them in the future."

Mingyu gave him a sad smile. "I hope so."


	9. chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can u believe i actually have the audacity to update this after a year.... thanks so much to everyone who was reading this before and actually wanted me to update it! and i'm so sorry for updating only now! and it's also a side chapter with like nothing to do with the storyline rip tl;dr i am doing bad at updating this fic

Peering inside the refrigerator, Mingyu finds nothing but a half-empty jar of mayonnaise and a piece of wilted lettuce. Shit. He accidentally used up all of their meat and vegetables for yesterday’s curry dinner. Sure it tasted good, but he could have left some of the potatoes for another dish. He sighs.

“Jihoon!”

The aforementioned emerges from his room. Jihoon has his bangs up in a small pigtail above his head and he’s wearing a worn-down t-shirt and track pants from his high school days: one of Jihoon’s lazy day outfits. One thing Mingyu has learned from living with the older man was that Jihoon has absolutely no intention of going outside and doing actual things when he puts on one of these outfits.

“We’re out of food,” Mingyu explains. He holds up the piece of wilted lettuce to further emphasize their dilemma. “Can I borrow your car to go grocery shopping?”

Jihoon narrows his eyes at him. “You don’t even have a license.”

“Nah. But Wonwoo hyung offered to get me a fake one. Should I contact him?”

“No way in hell am I allowing that.” Jihoon scrubs his face with his hands, groaning. “Guess I’ll have to drive you.”

Mingyu gapes at his outfit. “Please put on something more decent.”

Jihoon comes out a few minutes later in another pair of track pants, an oversized black hoodie and his unkempt hair covered in a black cap. It’s finished by a pair of slippers that Mingyu would rather wear at home but he guesses it’s better than one of Jihoon’s lazy day outfits. This was a lazy-day-but-still-productive outfit. The two of them march out to the car and Jihoon drives them to their local grocery store.

-

“What did you think about this brand of soy sauce?” Mingyu wants to know, holding down the bottle under Jihoon’s nose. “I bought this kind last time, did you like it? Or should I buy a different one?”

Jihoon pushes Mingyu’s hand away. “It tasted like normal soy sauce to me.”

Mingyu pouts. “But you __have__ to have preference for soy sauce brands!”

“Then go buy whatever brand you like,” Jihoon says exasperatedly. He wheels the cart off to the snack aisle while Mingyu compares soy sauce prices, chucking different flavors of potato chips to their cart.

His younger husband hurries to him in tip toes a while later and Jihoon laughs because how would anyone not notice Kim Mingyu at his height even when he’s trying to be stealthy?

“Jihoon,” Mingyu whispers in panic. “Soonyoung is here, you know my classmate Kwon Soonyoung? What the fuck? Didn’t we come to this grocery in particular because it was far from the school? Why is he even here?” he babbles, looking over his shoulder in case of Soonyoung.

“Fuck,” Jihoon hisses. He pulls up his hood to disguise himself from looking like a teacher. Mingyu doubts anyone would ever recognize him looking so sloppy like he does now. “We have to get out of here!”

Jihoon pushes the cart fast while Mingyu walks briskly beside him. They try to avoid the beverages aisle because that’s where Mingyu saw Soonyoung last (much to Jihoon’s agony, he really wanted to get a few bottles of soda), but they hear Mingyu’s name being called anyway when they pass the sweets aisle.

“Hey Kim Mingyu!!”

The two of them freeze, Mingyu pulling Jihoon to his chest in an attempt to hide him.

“O-oh, hey Soonyoung,” he greets the boy as Soonyoung jogs up to him with a grin and a shopping basket. “What’re you doing here?”

“Grocery shopping, I guess, this is a grocery store after all. I was on the way to visit some relatives for the weekend but they made me buy them some stuff first,” Soonyoung explains. Mingyu doubts Soonyoung’s relatives made him buy all those chocolate bars in his basket. Soonyoung eyes Jihoon curiously.“Who’s that you’re with, Gyu?”

“This is my little cousin Wonwoo,” Mingyu exclaims loudly, tightening his arm looped around Jihoon’s nape. He can feel his chances of being strangled by the smaller man rising.

“Oh, is he shy?” Soonyoung stoops down a little to examine the boy. “Hello, I’m Kwon Soonyoung. Mingyu hyung’s friend from school.”

“He’s not really feeling well so we’ll just grab a few more stuff and then go home, won’t we Wonwoo,” Mingyu pats his head nervously. “See you at school, Soonyoung!”

“Well, see you! Grow tall like Mingyu hyung, Wonwoo!” Soonyoung calls after Mingyu had maneuvered Jihoon’s body so that the two of them can walk away with his face still pressed against Mingyu’s chest.

The laugh Mingyu’s been holding in bursts out once they’ve reached the cashier and detached from each other. “Grow tall like Mingyu hyung, he said,” Mingyu laughs as he and Jihoon pile the contents of their cart on the counter. “Our Jihoon is already an old man.”

Jihoon’s face is red and he doesn’t say anything, just takes out his credit card and gives it to the cashier in silence.

Mingyu realizes that something must be wrong when Jihoon is still quiet and giving him short, angry responses when he tries to strike a conversation on the ride home. “Are you pissed?” he asks cautiously. “Did I say something wrong?”

“I’m just tired.”

“Oh.”

Mingyu has learned by now that trying to get Jihoon to tell him things can only lead to the two of them arguing, so he doesn’t press the issue further for the rest of the trip home. His anxiety over the situation, however, only builds up over the silence inside the car and he tries again once they pull up to the driveway.

“Jihoon, are you mad? Please tell me if I did something to piss you off,” he pleads sadly as they carry the grocery bags to the apartment. Jihoon ignores him in favor of sorting the newly replenished supplies in their pantry.

The rest of the day continues on with Jihoon not coming out of his room for dinner and Mingyu can tell that he just did something very wrong.

 _ _“What did I do?”__ he texts Jihoon later that night once he’s lying down in his bed unable to sleep. Mingyu’s always been the type of person who gets uneasy when someone is obviously mad at him. He doesn’t expect Jihoon to reply but he does a few minutes later.

__“It’s stupid.”_ _

The message notification tone rings again.

“ _ _I’m just really insecure about my height, okay?”__

Oh. Jihoon always appeared so cool and confident that it never occurred to Mingyu that he had a complex about his height. Now Mingyu felt really, really bad. He wanted to get up and barge into Jihoon’s room to apologize, but this was a sensitive topic that Jihoon couldn’t tell him about face to face. He decides against it and texts Jihoon back instead.

__“I’m really sorry.”_ _

__“Sorry I overreacted too haha”_ _

__“You weren’t overreacting, I made you feel bad :( Sorry, Jihoonie. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow.”_ _

__“I want fried chicken.”_ _

__“Got it :D Good night, Jihoonie <3”_ _

__“Night.”_ _

Mingyu smiles to himself. He would have to research the best fried chicken recipe all night.


End file.
